11.   Government spokesman Jaroslaw Sellin told journalists after the Cabinet meeting that the government also wanted the smaller crosses removed but for the papal cross to remain.

12.   He also said he expected Jewish groups to accept the papal cross now that the smaller crosses have been removed.

13.   Interior Ministry soldiers and police, with priests looking on, then took down the wooden hut and all crosses except for the towering papal cross early Friday.

14.   Jewish groups say the papal cross, visible from within the camp, violates the memory of the Jews killed there.

15.   Jewish groups oppose any crosses near Auschwitz, particularly the papal cross, which can be seen from inside the camp.

16.   Jewish groups were quiet then about the papal cross, which is at the former nunnery.

17.   Switon last year moved into a tent near the large papal cross and urged conservative Catholics to plant crosses on the site.

18.   The agreement reached earlier this year between Polish authorities and Jewish groups did not resolve the dispute over the papal cross.

19.   The agreement reached earlier this year between Polish authorities and Jewish groups did not resolve the dispute over whether the papal cross should be left at the site.

20.   The controversy has escalated in recent weeks, with conservative Catholics inspired by religious activist Kazimierz Switon constructing dozens more smaller crosses near the large papal cross.